


The Revelation of Takaya According to Jin

by Halberdier



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Book of Revelations, Epic Poetry, Gen, Lovecraftian, Poetry, apocalyptic, biblical, lovecraft, poem
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 18:23:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5675992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Halberdier/pseuds/Halberdier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What took place between the end of October and the end of November that changed Strega's goal? Who could have opened their eyes? What did that look like? What was the Revelation given to Takaya? What was the word that he had Jin spread?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"I was met by a man in black  
as my useless body floated  
in a blood red bay.

He walked on wings of butterflies  
black like him and he pulled  
me from the water

And showed me how the world must end  
for all of those who wished  
it soon would fall.

He showed me the two body being  
born of our desire, thrashing, reaching  
endlessly for the end.

He showed me a purpose  
for this mask they forced  
on us.

He showed me how she soon will find  
her cosmic mate and join  
and grant our wish.

Spread word, my friend. Go,  
do my will," he said as we awoke  
ashore where I had dreamed of nothing.

"Eternity awaits."


	2. Chapter 2

The following evening’s hour  
He climbed the highest strut  
Upon that lunar bridge we’d left

And I strained myself to follow  
His loose and limber strides  
But soon we perched

And looked over our city  
Gangrenous. “Is it not  
Beautiful, Jin?” I shook

My head, not speaking.  
“Beautiful and fetid. A city  
Opened for only us. We did

Not ask to see that which hides.  
You cannot cover your ears.  
You cannot close your eyes.

Why then, dear friend,  
Were we given this gift?  
This wretched half-life

In exchange for the knowledge  
Of truth and falsehood?  
We are dying,” he added

And was silent for some time.


	3. Chapter 3

“For too long, I have  
Struggled with this question.  
But when we thought our lives

Forfeit, all for the sake  
Of preserving our domain  
Which evidently persists,

We once again refused to join  
our brethren in unwelcome  
Enlightenment, gone before us.

And I beheld the pale wax’d  
Giving her pallid glow over the  
Tragedy of the hanged’s execution.

And I knew with cold and utter  
Certainty that we had failed  
To prove that we had ever lived

Or achieved any matter of note  
Or great significance, only trailing  
like the waste of a putrid carp.

It was then, with a voice like  
The quiet roaring of wind through  
The tunnels of a nameless city,

That truth himself spoke my name”


	4. Chapter 4

“‘Sakaki Takaya, my child,’  
He said, and without thinking  
I whispered, ‘I am nobody’s child.

Not of Kirijo, who sought an answer  
To his history of sins. Not of Ikutsuki,  
Who may have deceived some

But never me. And certainly not  
Of Sakaki, whose face i could  
Never call to mind, even should

I have the passing desire to see him.  
Who then are you, O Voice, to claim  
Paternity or progenitor of this prison

I cannot break?’ But he laughed  
Though yet I could not see, my  
Face turned up toward the only

Thing which could be seen in  
Sky on that night, last night  
When our world was meant to end,

His thousand faces flashed through  
My vision, and I felt the moon itself  
To howl and my soul itself to crawl

Then stillness took me, touched my face.”


	5. Chapter 5

"And by my face he took me  
Lifted me bodily from the blood  
Red bay of the port and I

Turned to see the voice that  
Spoke to me. And being turned  
I saw seven golden pillars like

Sisters and in the midst  
Of the seven, ONE like unto you  
Or I, clothed with a garment down

To the foot, much like a teacher, much  
Like a Pharaoh. His head and his hair  
Were black like gunpowder, as black as night

Unhalted by green as ours are and  
His eyes were as a flame of gold.  
And his feet like unto obsidian

As if they formed fresh from magma.  
And his voice as the sound of many waters.  
And in his right hand seven stars.

And out of his mouth a sharp, twoedged,  
and ancient spear. And his countenance  
Was as a massive hole in space,

And I knelt when I saw him, yet could not say why."


	6. Chapter 6

“‘O, my child,’ he said, ‘you need  
Not bow to me,’ though i felt  
As if he himself would forbid me rise.

‘At least look up and behold  
For it is I from which your soul  
Was born. It is I who dwell

In the heart of every child. It is I  
Who oppose the one from which  
Your Hypnos was birthed. It is

I who bred your solution alongside  
Myself within your estranged human  
Families. It is I who grants you now

The truthful reason, the final  
Answer for your purpose, the wish  
That you have fostered since

You fostered your disciples:  
The beloved disciple and  
The betrayer. And it

Is I who with grand purpose ended  
Your world once before. And it is I  
Who will teach you the means

To do so again,’ he said, and I was engulfed."


	7. Chapter 7

“In swarms of blackened butterflies  
Did he envelop me, and it seemed  
as if he would let butterflies spread

Until dawn. Inside of agony,  
Those butterflies crying out, crying  
In decay, in chaos, crawling,

Climbing, crying, converging,  
Convalescing, then dispersing, and  
When they left, in darkness was I

Still. But slowly I beheld cracks  
In the darkness, like holes of light,  
Until I thought it was the night sky

Not as you and I see it, Jin, but as  
I was meant to see it. And here was I filled  
From the outside in with a duelling sense

Of oneness and otherness. ‘You feel,’  
He said, in wind and water and endless void,  
‘Alone and entwined, do you not?

This world was made by those  
Like you, though you also must know  
There are none like you. Your life

Has never meant anything to your world.’”


	8. Chapter 8

“‘I know your works. I know  
You are neither cold nor hot.  
Born of man, destroyed by man,

Rebuilt by man, rebuked by man,  
Rebuffed by man, demanded by man,  
Betrayed by man, submerged by man,

You have never found purpose.  
A machine is created with a purpose.  
Why weren’t you?’ he asked me,

And I wept, as I can never recall  
Weeping,” he said to me, and again  
He fell silent. Together we beheld

Our kingdom, from which we were  
Cast down. Once he ruled, the seer  
And I at his left and right hand,

A domain of death and shadow  
Twisted and broken, as we were,  
Created for why we knew not,

The hour and us both. Thus I was  
Astonished at his new doctrine, and as  
He spoke to me, I feared I would plummet.

He said, “But he taught me the Answer.”


	9. Chapter 9

“The Answer,” he said again, gaze  
Piercing through my own eyes in  
His way, as if, it seemed, I was

Not there at all. “For he lifted me  
Up again, turned my face to behold  
The stars I thought I saw. ‘Is this,

You are thinking, the vastness out  
Of space?’ he said, voicing my thoughts,  
‘Is this the infinite abyss, the void

Beyond Earth? Do you finally behold  
Something greater than yourself? A view  
Few privileged men and fewer privileged

Others have seen or will ever see? The  
Pinnacle of your human achievement here  
Surpassed even by you, with no aid of

Shuttle or station? Do you gaze upon  
The thousand points of light, wherein  
Lies the small blue dot on which

All that you have ever known  
And all that you will ever know  
And all that anyone you know

Has known?’ And then I felt him smile. ‘You Fool.’”


	10. Chapter 10

“‘You fool, again, you utter child, you  
Naive bastard. You simple cog, awhirl  
In machinery far greater than you can

Comprehend, do you truly believe that you  
Of anyone, helpless, hopeless, friendless,  
Lifeless, sickly and broken and doomed

From the day you were conceived. You  
Actually believed, for even a moment, that you  
Could be exceptional? That you could break

The shackles of your world? You,  
Who craves so recklessly to explore the darkness,  
Did you truly believe that you could ever be shown

The light?’ He laughed and laughed, and i  
Wept and wept, and i tried to speak, but nothing  
I would say connected to words that I recognized.

It was then that he fell silent, then struck me  
And rebuked me. ‘Why did you think I brought  
You here? To spout nonsense? Are you afraid?

You think that you know fear? My child,  
Bastard son of the breathing and the dead,  
Understand that there is no point in living!

Cry, that there is no answer!’”


	11. Chapter 11

“And I begged him, oh yes, I begged him  
To make it stop. To make it end. To take my life  
And spare me from this emptiness. For here,

I realized, was not the expanse of the universe  
But was something more inward, more filthy,  
Something born entirely of man in ways

That I never wanted to know. ‘End it?’  
He repeated of me. ‘End it? And how  
Shall it ever end? This is the Sea

Of the Soul of mankind, and as long  
As humanity endures, it persists! And I  
Am the shadow of all humans! Where there

Is darkness, there are shadows! I am the shadow  
Of all humans! As long as humans have dark  
Hearts, I will live! The shadow does not forgive

A single soul who goes against fate! Did you believe  
That you could defy me? That you, struggling, clinging  
To broken existence, escaped my notice? Now gaze

Upon me! Face the last trial of the Crawling Chaos!’  
And I rose, standing upon nothing, and with every ounce  
Of strength within me, I and my Other Self cast our power

But he remained unscathed, unburned, unbroken.”


	12. Chapter 12

“And falling at last to his feet, I pled once more  
That he have mercy and allow me to perish,  
For even if I had accomplished nothing, no longer

Could I continue with the knowledge that life,  
Held in the hearts of all mankind from the dawn  
Of creation, was absolutely devoid of meaning.

How could I continue, knowing now that the Answer  
Sought by every soul through time was a myth,  
A fraud, the longest con ever played? That which

Created man had also created Him, ONE  
Who stood before me, unbreakable, unbroken,  
Yet legion in all its forms and faces and avatars.

And it was he, I knew, that had created me.  
For he is Nothing. He is destruction. He is cold  
Impassioned dissection, he is searing, ceaseless

Anger, and from all of these was I born, and from  
All of these was I discarded, and from all of these  
Was I rebuilt, from person into drone, from a laughable

Conception of humanity to experimental explorer  
Derived to fix a fallen failure. And as long as life on Earth  
Persisted, so too would he and we and they persist.

‘So now,’ he said, ‘you may see how it may end.’”


	13. Chapter 13

“Once more did he lift me, and through  
The aether unconscious did we pass  
And when we halted, I beheld a new

Answer. An answer to a new question.  
Not the question of why do we live?  
Nor the question of why am I here?

Not the question of what does it mean  
For bad things to happen to good people?  
Nor what does it mean for good or bad

To exist? Nor the question of why  
Does the world cease to move  
For an hour each night, and why

Was I given the power to know this  
Bizarre and disgusting profanation of  
Life? But instead, he held me, and forced

Me to behold the shadows, like him,  
That dwell in mankind. And behold I did,  
And they seared their visages into my mind,

Pulsating with greenish reds and yellowish  
Blues and brilliant blacks and the darkest  
Of whites, they apart, from one end of the universe

To the other, steadily approaching.


	14. Chapter 14

“The first, I could see, seemed nothing  
But an orb, when first I saw, but of such  
Scale so as I could not determine its distance

For it felt so endlessly large, and yet endlessly far,  
Until it seemed to me as if I could determine within  
An iris and a pupil, or a focus and an aperture.

And into this great eye, I gazed, and the eye gazed  
Back at me, but I did not feel as though I held  
Its notice,” he said, and I wished to tell him

That I knew this feeling, but truthfully,  
I could not. “Through her vision,” he continued,  
“I knew her name. That which none can escape.

The all-encompassing change that comes inexorably  
Closer at each moment. ‘Nyx,’ the man in black  
Finally spoke again, ‘the Queen of Night. Do you feel

As if she sees you? If she did, it would change nothing.  
She is Death. And distant though she may seem, she  
Is closer now than she has been since before Kirijo

Sought to bring about the Fall. For it is time again  
For one to call her to her home. For now has come  
The Appriser, and with him, there must be The Prince.’

‘I do not understand,’ I whispered, so he turned me to the other.


End file.
